A Certain Scientific Conspiracy
by The Irishman in Black
Summary: A Level 4 Esper on the run from a Gravity-controlling terrorist must take refuge in the Kamijou Faction. Though they vow to protect him from the insane Esper, but the resulting carnage may prove too much even for Touma and Misaka. Please R&R.
1. Recruitment

A Certain Scientific Conspiracy

Chapter 1: Recruitment

A pale kid with red eyes and bleach white hair exited the research facility. He was skinny, almost to the point of anorexia. He had a look in his eye like if he weren't so bored right now, he'd be crazy. One hand was shoved in his pocket, the other holding a can of coffee. He sauntered down an alleyway after taking a large drink from his can. That's when he saw the figure of another man.

The alleyway was narrow, not so narrow that he was shoulder to wall, but not enough for Accelerator to move past the stranger. Accelerator stopped for a moment, regarding the stranger. He was older than him by a few years, but he wasn't an adult quite yet. His hair was unruly, red, and rather dirty. Connected to his hair were sideburns that reached down to his jaw. Had Accelerator not been the most powerful Level 5 in Academy City, he would've been intimidated by the stranger's presence. He was slightly unnerved by the fact he couldn't see past the shades on his face and by the stoic look he wore.

Accelerator ignored him and tried to move past him, but before he could try, the stranger spoke. "Can you fit any money in those slits you call pockets?"

Accelerator almost smiled. This kid had no idea who he was dealing with.

"Depends on how badly you wanna die," Accelerator replied, slightly excited. The stranger smiled.

"I'm kidding. I know better than to mess with the Accelerator," the stranger followed up.

"If you know better than to mess with me, then why are you kidding around with me?" The stranger's smiled disappeared.

"Apparently he wasn't joking when he said you didn't have a sense of humor."

"Who?" The starnger shook his head.

"The only person you need to worry about right now is me." Accelerator shot him the scariest smile he could manage.

"That a challenge?" The stranger took a step back, raising his hands in the air.

"No, of course not. I'd never dream it. I'm merely here to make you an offer." Accelerator's smiled shrunk but did not disappear. He nodded, telling the stranger to go on.

"How would you like to make it so no one ever even thinks of challenging you?" If this shocked the Accelerator, he did not show it.

"And how exactly are you gonna make that happen?"

"This city is going to go through some changes soon. For that to happen, I need the best, and no one's better than you."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I said changes, didn't I? That'll include making you world famous as the man who brought down Academy City." Accelerator was silent for a time. The stranger soon frowned. He raised an eyebrow as if to ask if he could hurry up. Accelerator's smile disappeared entirely.

"No thanks, I've got a plan to make challenging me the greatest sin imaginable already." The stranger said nothing, merely nodding and moving to the side. Accelerator took this as a goobye and started walking.

"And I'm only 11,012 steps away from completing that goal," Accelerator continued. His words fell on deaf ears. The stranger had already exited the alleyway.


	2. New Kid

Chapter 2: New Kid

Touma was milling the aisles of a certain convienence store. He had forgotten to pick up food on his way back to his apartment, so he decided to go back for it, rubbing the bite mark on his head. He walked up to the counter and droppped the armful of items on the counter.

"Hold on, I need to go back for more," Touma said to the cashier. Touma started loading more cans of food into his arms.

"You need a basket?" a boy asked. Touma turned his head, seeing a shorter teen that came up to about Touma's nose. Atop his squar-ish face sat auburn unkempt short hair. He wore black slacks and a grey long-sleeved dress shirt with a burgundy tie wrapped around his neck.

"It looks like you're holding a lot, mind if I help?" the boy asked again, holding out the aformentioned basket.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Touma responded, dropping the cans into the basket. The boy gave a reassuring smile.

"This sure is a lot of food. Packing up for a trip?" he asked.

"No, my roommate just eats a lot," Touma replied. The boy laughed. After a few seconds, the boy realized Touma was giving him a blank stare.

"That wasn't sarcasm?" the boy questioned. Touma smiled and shook his head. He returned to finding food cans and dropping them into the basket. The boy continued to look confused.

"What kind of person can eat this much food?" He got closer to Touma, whispering behind cupped hand, "I hope you don't have any small pets." Touma smirked.

"We have a cat."

"I feel sorry for it."

"Well, she's not that bad."

"The roommate or the cat?" Touma laughed. He looked around the shelves a bit more before motioning to head to the counter. The boy set the basket on the counter and started to unload the contents.

"Thanks for the help, though carrying this all back is gonna be a pain."

"Eh, it's no problem. I like helping people," the boy smiled at him. Touma nodded.

"My names Touma Kamijou."

"Renji Nakajima, but most people just shorten it to Ren," Ren greeted, holding out his left hand. Touma looked at it and then shook it.

"You're left handed?" Touma asked.

"Er... ambidextrous. I can shake with my right hand if you'd prefer," Ren offered.

"No, it's fine, it's just that I don't know many left handed people, much less ambidextrous people," Touma explained. Ren's face contorted.

"What do you mean by 'people'?" Ren asked. Touma's smile turned into a frown. He started to panic.

"No, that's not what I meant!" Touma desperately tried to explain. Ren's face returned to normal and he started to laugh.

"I'm just messing with you. Not many people I know are like me, either," he said, still chuckling. He took a look at the large bag of various foods Touma would have to carry.

"You know, I can help you with that if you want," he proposed. Toma tried to pick up the bag.

"No, it's fine, I got it. Thanks anyway," Touma said as the bag tore and twenty pounds of food spilled out onto the grocery store's floor. Touma was silent and did not move for some time, keeping a blank stare at the mess now at his feet. Ren shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"You gonna clean that up?" the grocer asked. Touma's hands jutted into his hair and he started to scream.

"Such misfortune!"

"Don't worry, I'll help you clean all this up," Ren said. Suddenly, the doors flew open as a strong wind picked up and lifted the various food items off of the ground.

"I've never seen an ability like that before," Touma said, slightly surprised. Ren looked back at him.

"Level 4 Aerokinesis. I'm the only person I know that has it," Ren explained. He set the items back on the counter.

"Maybe you give us a couple of cloth bags instead?" Ren suggested to the grocer.

* * *

Touma and Ren walked down the street. The sun shined brightly down on Academy City. Ren wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. He looked to his side and saw a vending machine.

"Hey, do you mind if we stop at this vending machine? It's really hot out, you know?" Ren asked. Touma looked over at the machine.

"Uh, actually, Ren-" Touma's voice was not heard by Ren, as he was already down at the machine starting to put money into the machine Touma recognized all too well.

"Oh, man..." Touma groaned. Touma walked up. Ren was standing at the machine, waiting patiently.

"You know it took your money, right?" Touma asked.

"It did, did it?" Ren smirked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry, a friend showed me how to make this thing work," Touma said as he set his bag of groceries on the ground. He raised his leg, slamming it into the side of the machine. Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Ren asked. Touma shook his head. He tried kicking it again, this time spinning beforehand. The machine rumbled, but stayed the same.

"No, really, what are you doing?" Ren asked, a worried look appearing on his face.

"Just hold on, I got this!" Touma stated with conviction. He threw his leg at it again, but to no avail.

"Are you... okay?" Ren asked wearily.

"No, he isn't," Mikoto answered for him. Touma spun around.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked angrily. She shrugged.

"I dunno, a couple minutes maybe," she replied.

"You saw me trying to do the kicking thing and you didn't step in and help me?" Touma interrogated irritably, pointing an accusing finger at Mikoto.

"Uh, who are you?" Ren asked. Mikoto turned.

"Oh, I'm Mikoto Misaka," she greeted.

"No, seriously! My leg really hurts from all of that!" Touma ranted.

"Oh, I know you! You're Tokiwadai Middle School's Ace, the Railgun! My name's Ren Nakajima. I'm just helping Touma carry some grocery's back to his apartment," Ren replied.

"I think I might've damaged my leg! If it starts bleeding, I'm blaming you!"

"Nice to meet you Ren. I guess it's kinda nice to get some recognition without having to shock some idiots first," Mikoto continued.

"Are you guys just gonna ignore me?"

"Well, it's not everyday that you get to meet a level 5 on the street. It's kinda like meeting a celebrity," Ren responded.

"I can't believe this, you guys are actually ignoring me. What if I actually hurt my leg hitting that machine?"

"Please don't think so highly of me, I'm just a regular student, I just so happen to have a high level," Mikoto said, waving away the notion.

"So, how long is this gonna continue?" Touma questioned in a dull matter.

"Well, it takes a lot of hard work to reach level 5, and you did it before reaching high school. And you're ranked 3rd to boot," Ren replied.

"Stop ignoring me!" Touma shouted at them. Mikoto turned towards Touma.

"Has anyone ever told you how rude you are?" Touma inquired. Mikoto walked straight by him. She kicked the machine. A soda popped out the bottom. She picked it up.

"Wait, are you still ignoring me?" Touma asked. Mikoto walked over to Ren.

"Here, the machine has a habit of stealing peoples money," Mikoto said, handing the soda to him.

"I give up," Touma shook his head in defeat. He crouched down and picked up his beg of groceries.

"Thanks. Oh, Touma did you say something?" Ren asked.

"Well, yeah, I-" Touma was interrupted by the sound of clapping. The three looked to it's source. A strange man sat on a bench not far away. He was large, and obviously proud of it as he was wearing a crimson muscle shirt. He had long brown hair that stretched down to his shoulders. He had the bottom half of a goatee perched on his chin. His crossed legs were covered by black jeans. Presently, he was clapping.

"I must admit, I'm surprised to see all three of you here. That means I get to take out all three of my targets at once!" He suddenly jumped up, splaying a hand out at them. An orb appeared in his hand which a beam fired from, charging toward them. Touma jumped in front of them, reaching his right hand out against the beam. With the sound of glass shattering, the beam disappeared. The man chuckled.

"So that's Imagine Breaker. He wasn't kidding when he said Imagine Breaker was impressive, it even managed to cancel my Hadron Cannon. I'll give you props for that, but there's more than one way to skin a cat," the man continued. Ren stepped forward.

"Back off, Hideaki, you're outnumbered!" Ren threatened. Hideaki threw his head back in laughter.

"Nakajima, you still don't get it, do you?" he said, pulling a knife from his pocket.

"I'm never alone." And with that, a large group of espers gathered around Hideaki.

"Take no chances with the girl, just kill her. Take Nakajima alive. Leave the spikey-haired kid to me."

He launched himself at Touma.


	3. CLASS

Chapter 3: CLASS

Hideaki's blade was a full 10 centimeters, and sharpened to perfection. The blade was either new or polished daily, as it reflected the sun's rays with remarkable brilliance. Touma noticed all this as he saw the blade sweeping toward his face. Touma's left hand shot up and grabbed Hideaki's wrist, stopping the blade. His other hand came up and smacked Hideaki's jaw. Hideaki stumbled back, recovered, and charged again, this time going for a jab with his blade. Touma dodged left, attempting to move in. Hideaki was faster, slicing at Touma's throat. Touma leaned back, the blade missing him barely. Touma quickly moved in, striking Hideaki's cheek with a left jab, followed by a right straight to Hideaki's nose, making him stumble back again. Hideaki wiped some blood from his nose and growled at Touma.

"You know, you hit pretty hard for a scrawny kid," Hideaki grumbled.

"And for a buff guy, you suck at fighting. Let me guess, the muscles are just for show?" Touma taunted. Hideaki grunted. He flipped the knife upside down in his hand and attmepted to stab Touma with an overhead swing. Touma dodged again, going in for another punch. Hideaki, however, was ready. His left hand shot out and hit Touma in the face, knocking him back. Hideaki pressed his advantage, coming in again with the blade. Touma moved to the side, hoping to get another opening. Hideaki moved the blade with surprising agility, his knife coming around in an arc and manging to slice open a slanted scar into Touma's shirt, leaving the spikey-haired student's skin unharmed.

"Hey! This was my last good shirt, and the laundry is gonna be closed tomorrow, you jerk! Just my luck..." Touma started complaining.

"You've got bigger problems here, kid. You know, the guy with the knife trying to kill you," Hideaki remarked.

"Do you have to show up to class with a shirt that has a knife wound?" Touma questioned. Hideaki looked at him, clearly confused.

"Isn't it summer vacation?" Hideaki asked. Touma sighed.

"I have to take remedial classes..." Touma admitted, downcast. Hideaki stood up straight.

"You're the guy that CLASS is after? Man, we've really declined in the past few months..." Hideaki jumped forward again, slicing the knife at Touma's jugular. Touma ducked under the knife. He brought his fist up under Hideaki's jaw. Hideaki was flung backwards. Touma pressed his advantage, moving in with the grace of a boxer. He threw two straights, each one rocking Hideaki's head back. Touma swung his fist around into a left hook that caught Hideaki beneath his ear. Hideaki's body jerked, his body swung so that his back was to Touma before collapsing to the ground.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Ren flattened his hand and sliced at an esper standing a few meters away. A gush of air rocketed toward the esper, striking him and launching him back into the brush. Another esper suddenly jumped at Ren, who simply brought up underneath him and tossed him over his head. Two espers came at him at once. One stood to the left and pulled out a small set of steel balls. The other stood to the right and gathered a ball of fire into his hand. Ren quickly turned around to elbow the esper he had tossed over his head. The strike slammed against his ear and he went down, holding his head in pain. Ren turned back in time to see both the espersd throwing their respective items. Ren manipulated the oxygen in the air away from the fire, disipating it. He turned and realized that the small steel balls were moving at an impossibly slow rate for something their size. He didn't question it and quickly launched gust of air at the balls. The air pushed the user back, but not the balls. Ren moved out of the way of another fireball and attempted to dislodge the balls again, but to no avail.

The esper from the brush stood up and raised his hands, shooting dirt and dust from the ground toward Ren, temporarily blinding him. Ren felt the airwaves, and felt the balls still approaching, as well as another fireball arcing his way. He chopped his hand through the air and knocked the pyrokinetic off his feet. Ren tried to run out of the dust, but he was temproarily distracted when he thought he felt a vibration of a light female body flying over him, obviously being thrown from somewhere. This distraction allowed the steel balls finally make it to him. Suddenly, he felt someone step in the way of the balls. Ren, getting frustrated with all the dirt in his eyes, swooped air in and cleared the dust out. Moving quickly, he launched another gust at the esper in the brush. The esper fell over, not getting up again. He looked over and saw that Touma had, in his hands, a set of steel balls in his right hand. The thrower of these objects was currenlty smoking and charred black. Mikoto walked up behind them. She carried another female in her arms and piled them up on the now growing pile of unconscious thugs. Damn, that wasn't Mikoto I felt flying over me, it was that thug she was carrying. I should've known better, Ren thought.

Mikoto walked over to the now unconscious Hideaki and kicked him. There was no response. She rolled her eyes and kicked again, this time harder. He murmured something and rolled over. Upon seeing Mikoto, he quickly reached out his hand. Mikoto zapped him. Hideaki fell back, groaning in pain.

"That wasn't very smart of you, was it?" Mikoto mocked. Hideaki raised his head and attempted to make a rude gesture, which was prevented by another shock from Mikoto.

"You should be thankful, most people would be so burned at this point that they couldn't move. But I need to know something," Mikoto said. She lowered herself down to him.

"Tell me what CLASS is and why they want my friend, or I'll zap you with a bolt so powerful you'll give the park pavement a new color," Mikoto threatened. Hideaki grunted.

"Go to hell, you crazy psychopathic bitch," Hideaki growled. Touma facepalmed.

"That was quite possibly the worst way you could've answered," Ren stated, "I haven't even known the girl for ten minutes and I know that." Hideaki gave a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, I'll talk." He got up, standing in the middle of the three students. He cracked his neck.

"Your friends punch hella hard," Hideaki complimented Ren.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Ren responded. Hideaki suddenly punched Ren in the face and pushed past him and Touma, making a run for the trees. Mikoto sighed in annoyance and shot a bolt of lightning at him, making him collapse. Mikoto walked up to him and placed a foot on the back of his head.

"Every second you don't talk, I slam your face further into the dirt, got it?" Mikoto warned. Hideaki turned his head so she could hear him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking cunt! You can't do this shit to me, you gotta take me in to the authorities, you fuck!" Hideaki shouted at her. Mikot responded with a shoe slamming his face into the ground. Hideaki attempted to swear at her again before she slammed her shoe into him again, making him get a mouthfull of dirt, which he would have spat out were it not for another kick to the head, making him swallow the dirt. Ren stared in horror.

"Is your girlfriend usually this violent?" Ren asked, unassured.

"She's not my girlfriend, I barely even know her!" Touma shouted in disgust.

"Okay, that's great, but I'm more concerned with the whole violent thing," Ren replied.

"Oh. Well, I guess, she's just ticked off."

"What, about him attacking me?"

"No, about his thugs wrecking the soda machine."

"Huh. How about that." The two stood, watching Hideaki continue to eat dirt.

"You got any money left?" Ren asked.

"What happened to the soda she gave you?"

"...Nothing, I just want another one."

"W-why? I'm broke enough trying to get all these groceries as it is," Touma said, gesturing to the now completely destroyed bags of groceries. Upon realizing this, Touma fell to his knees.

"No... oh dear god, no..."

"What? They're just groceries." Touma shot up, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him close.

"Just groceries? Are you mad?" Touma shouted in a panic.

"According to the psychology report, but I think his machine was broken." There was an awkward silence. Touma shook his head.

"More than I needed to know. Look, my roommate is going to kill me if I don't get these back to her in one piece!"

"So wait, is your roommate your girlfriend?" Ren asked.

"Would you let the girlfriend thing go already?" Touma demanded, letting go of Ren and tryign to gather up destroyed groceries.

"That means yes, right?" Ren asked. Touma's head wipped around.

"No."

"That totally means yes," Mikoto chimed in.

"You stay out of this!" Touma shouted getting back to his ashed up groceries. Hideaki spat out a mouthful of dirt.

"Is she hot?" Hideaki asked.

"Why do you care?" Mikoto asked. Hideaki shrugged.

"Curious. I'm probably going into the slammer for a while, so y'know..." and before he could ask what she looked like, Mikoto shoved his face back into the dirt. Hideaki managed to wiggle his face out from underneath Mikoto's foot.

"Look, you give me a picture of her, I'll tell you what you want to know."

"What? No!" Touma rebelled.

"You have to. For the good of this city, you have to let this guy have a picture of your girlfriend," Ren said.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Touma shouted at him.

"Then why are you so offended by it?" Hideaki asked. Touma looked to Mikoto for help, but she had zoned out of the conversation and only came back in recently, so she just shrugged and hoped that was what he was looking for. Touma's head fell.

"Fine. Wait here," Touma sighed. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a photo. Ren was shocked.

"Why is she trying to bite the camera?" Ren asked.

"I keep this around to remind me what happens if I forget to bring home groceries," Touma replied, walking up to Hideaki. Hideaki took the photo and took one look at it.

"Damn, she can open her mouth really wide," he commented.

"Okay, that was too much," Mikoto decided. She zapped him again.

"Okay, okay! God, you're such a f-er... friendly... person. Look, CLASS is an organizaton created to clean up Academy City. Anyone is allowed in as long as they prove their loyalty to our leader, Suzaku Tanaka. We wanted to kill Nakajima because he failed in proving his loyalty and decided to try and blab about us to Anti-Skill," Hideaki explained.

"They said they'd look into it, but they haven't found any proof you exist yet," Ren updated.

"Well, they'll have proof now," Mikoto replied. She nodded for Hideaki to continue. He grumbled something under his breath and continued.

"We have a base in District 19 in one of the abandoned warehouses. J372," Hideaki finished.

"Thanks," Mikoto said before shooting a powerful bolt at him.

"You... bitch..." he breathed as he passed out. Mikoto walked over to them.

"Let's go pay this Suzaku a visit," Mikoto declared. Ren and Touma looked at each other.

"By ourselves?" Ren asked, "I'm not certain going to the place where everyone wants to kill me is a good idea."

"Calm down, we'll have Judgement with us," she replied.

"They'll have to verify your story with the twenty or so people you just knocked out for an unknown period of time and for what could very well be false information?" Touma attempted to confirm. Mikoto was silent.

"Fine, I'll have to go alone," Mikoto decided.

"What? No! That's incredibly stupid. Not to metnion dangerous. Touma and I will go with you," Ren countered.

"You know, I have somewhere to be?" Touma said.

"And you'll be going there groceryless, come on!" Ren said, beginning to walk away. Touma nodded.

"Point taken." Touma and Mikoto started walking the opposite direction of Ren.

"He knows that's not the way to District 19, right?" Touma asked Mikoto.

"I do now!" Ren shouted as he came running back.

"How long have you been living in this city?" Touma asked.

"Not... incredibly long, I only showed up a few months ago, and last month was taken up by this whole CLASS thing."

"So wait, how did you and Hideaki know each other?" Mikoto asked.

"Well, Hideaki was the one who introduced me to CLASS. He was also the one who volunteeered to hunt me down when I said they were a bunch of psychopaths. You think you know a guy..." Ren trailed off.

* * *

The doors to the warehouse blew open.

"Aerokinesis, 1. Really old and terribly made warehouse doors, 0," Touma said as he walked into the warehouse. The floor was cold and concrete, with the walls lined with cobwebs and dust hung tightly to everything.

"Careful, we don't know how many of them there are," Mikoto said.

"I'll read the air. Hold up," he extended a hand into the air. He got a confused look on his face.

"There's only one," he reported.

"It might just be that the muscle is out. It could be their leader," Touma suggested.

"He's a pretty big guy, proceed with caution," he said. They walked slowly down the hallways. The smell of the old warehouse was unbearable. Touma involuntarily coughed. The two of them looked back at him with anger. He shrugged and mouthed, "I'm sorry?". Mikoto mouthed back, "You idiot." Ren continued on, his hand still in the air. He walked up to a door. He began to whisper to the others.

"He's in the room on the other side of this door. He's holding something small, it could be a weapon. On the count of three, I'll burst down the door. Mikoto, prepare a railgun. Touma, you're on defense. If he shoots anything at us, block it."

"Since when can you just call up Railguns without my consent?" Mikoto whispered angrily.

"And why do I have to bite the bullet?" Touma complained.

"I dunno, Touma, because you can cancel out a fucking railgun by flicking it."

"What's gotten into you?" Touma asked.

"I'm just under a lot of pressure here, okay? Mikoto, can you please use a railgun?"

"Why do you ask her nicely, but just order me around?"

"I'm not in the mood for this!" The door next to them opened.

"The hell's going on out here?" the tall, red-haired and smoking individual asked.

"Stiyl?" Touma asked. He looked over at him.

"Oh great, it's you. What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing. Is Necessarius behind CLASS?" Touma asked.

"You get this excited over everything?" Stiyl taunted blandly.

"You have no idea," Mikoto answered for him.

"What the hell is Necessarius?" Ren asked.

"Who's this guy?" Stiyl inquired.

"Who am I? Who are you?" Ren shot back.

"Okay, there are too many questions being asked here. Come in, I'll explain what I can," Stiyl stepped back, inviting them in.

* * *

Hideaki sat in his cell. The picture of Index was still in his pocket, albeit crumpled. He shifted on his uncomfortable bed. That Judgement officer that caught Hideaki's eye earlier walked up to his cell.

"Evening, Officer Suki," he said with his best smile. She remained neutral.

"You have a visitor. Do anything stupid and I'll put you in solitary for the next two years, got it?" she threatened. She stood to the side as a man in a blue jacket walked in. His red hair was a mess. He had a pair of sideburns that reached down to his jaw. He had a pair of shades on his face, which he adjusted briefly before entering. He smiled at Hideaki.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" he greeted Hideaki.

"Hey, Boss. I know this looks bad, but I actually got something for you," Hideaki replied.

"What?"

"You know that Imagine Breaker kid you told me about? I got a picture of his girlfriend," Hideaki expalined, pulling out the picture. Suzaku took the picture from him. He grinned.

"You know, ever since that albino fucker refused to join us, I was feeling pretty... off-put. But this, Hideaki, this is incredible. In fact, I like this present so much, that that ball of nickel in your stomach doesn't need to do anything as of now." The color drained from Hideaki's face.

"You... what?" Hideaki asked.

"What, you actually think I had enough faith in you to bring him down? No, I knew you'd fail. And I also knew, thanks to this lovely lady standing next to me, that you'd be placed in this exact cell. Hideaki, I'd like you to meet Yumiko Suki. She'll be handling things from here, including your release. I suggest you thank her. And for God's sake, keep your eyes in your head, eh?" Suzaku smirked. He patted Hideaki on the head and then left the cell, the door slamming shut behind him.


	4. Warehouse J372

Chapter 4: Warehouse J372

Stiyl had led the three other teens into the small, dark, and decrepit room. Like the rest of the warehouse it showed it's lack of use with dust and cobwebs choking the corners, however this room, while abandoned, it was not quite as hollow like the rest of the building. The room was filled with a new clock upon the wall and a simple wooden chair in the corner. Wallpaper peeled off the walls.

Stiyl stood around a custom-made fire pit in the middle of the room. He inhaled and blew out a trail of smoke.

"This is how this'll work. We take turns answering questions. Each person asks me one thing and I, in return, ask them a question. Deal?"

"Deal," Touma replied.

"Great. Now, I-" Stiyl began.

"Hold on, 'Deal' was a question, wasn't it?" Touma inquired.

"Yeah, so was that. My turn again."

"Dammit..." Touma muttered.

"Question 1. What are you guys doing here?" Stiyl questioned, blowing smoke in their general direction. Mikoto held back a cough and the urge to shoot him with a railgun.

"We're investigating a man named Suzaku Tanaka, he runs an organization called CLASS," Ren answered, "So, what is Necessarius? It's strange having to ask twice."

"An organization that works outside of Academy City, but is aligned to it, amongst others."

"That's all?"

"Sorry, you only get one question per person. You, girl, what is CLASS and what do you know about Suzaku Tanaka?" Stiyl interrogated.

"What do you want to know? What CLASS is, or what I know about Suzaku Tanaka? You can only ask one, remember?" Mikoto mocked.

"Suzaku Tanaka. Coincidentally, that descision also counted as your question, which means I get to go again when you're done. You people should focus more on answering my questions and less on trying to be clever," Stiyl criticized. Mikoto snarled at him. Electricity bounced around on her head. Stiyl smiled.

"You look like a plasma ball without the glass surrounding it."

"Stiyl, this really isn't the girl to be making fun of," Ren warned as Touma backed away.

"You wanna know how a railgun works, Mr. Stiyl?"

"Railwhatnow?" Stiyl asked, taking a precautionary step back.

"Basically, by creating an electric current-"

"Did I ever say I wanted to know? No. No. Not ever. Tell me about Suzaku Tanaka," Stiyl ordered. Mikoto whipped out an arcade coin.

"Okay, this is not the place to do this, we just got out of a fight, remember?" Ren pleaded. Mikoto aimed. Stiyl blew smoke in her face.

"That's it! To hell with the explanation, here it is!" she shouted, shooting the railgun. The projectile shot by Stiyl's head, missing by centimeters. His cigarette was extinguished as it raced by. The wall behind him was hit by the railgun and collapsed, revealing a passageway. Ren and Touma stared at the hole in the wall. Stiyl lit a new cigarette.

"I missed on purpose," Mikoto revealed.

"I know you did. I just needed someone to open the wall behind me." She gritted her teeth.

"And you couldn't just ask nicely?"

"I could have, but this was so much more fun," Stiyl said, turning and walking into the downward slanted hallway. Touma looked at Ren and Mikoto.

"I'll follow Stiyl and see why he's here. You two take a look around and see if anything is worth noting," Touma said, heading down the hallway after Stiyl.

"Oh, I see how it is. You can order me around as much as you want, but if I want to, it's completely taboo," Ren started to complain.

"Can't hear you, running!" Touma shouted back.

"You're like, 3 meters away!" Ren shouted at him. What followed was Touma's attempt to make it seem like he was too far down the tunnel to be heard. This effect was lost due to him being all of 5 meters away. Ren looked at Mikoto.

"Is he always like this?" Ren asked.

"Not... always. Just whenever he feels like being annoying."

"Which is...?"

"Most of the time. The idiot." Ren looked away, appearing to be deep in thought.

"Would you stop reading into things?" Mikoto asked, annoyed.

"Who said I was reading into things?" Ren questioned indignantly.

"Okay, what WERE you doing?" Mikoto asked.

"Wondering what they'll find down there. I'm kind of curious," Ren answered.

"Right, so what is it really?" Mikoto questioned. Ren looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"Is it so weird to be curious?" Ren asked.

"No, but it is wrong to lie."

* * *

Touma and Stiyl strode down the dark hallway that was barely illuminated by the fire in Stiyl's hand.

"You never told us what you were doing here," Touma observed.

"Official magic business. You and your friends are going to stay out of it," Stiyl reaffirmed.

"Why? What is Necessarius hiding?" Touma asked.

"Nothing. It might surprise you, but the last thing I want on a mission report is dead children," Stiyl replied.

"So you're doing something dangerous?" Touma asked further. Stiyl stopped walking.

"You could say that," Stiyl said, raising his hand, moving the light of the fire over a pile of skeletons. Atop them sat a few corpses with flesh still clinging to their bones.

"Oh god..." Touma murmured.

"Don't throw u-" Stiyl was interrupted by Touma turning around and throwing up. Stiyl took a few steps toward the pile of bones and examined them closer.

"Some of these bones are REALLY old. Especially these ones near the bottom. They're at least a year or two old." Touma looked at him.

"How can you not lose it with that smell?" Touma asked.

"Dead bodies are a common occurence in the magic business. You get used to it," Stiyl explained.

"Did... Suzaku do this?" Touma wondered. Stiyl grimaced.

"It appears so. He's already killed more than what Necessarius predicted," Stiyl said.

"So, you ARE after Suzaku?" Touma asked.

"Not exactly. A couple years a go there was an Academy City project codenamed Project Divinity. According to the public, it was an operation to get Child Errors off the streets and into Child Error Facilities. Anyone actually working there knew it was actually a plan to create a Level 6 using Child Errors. It was decomissioned a few years ago and was replaced by Project Radio Noise. However, what Project Divinity was in reality was an attempt to create the perfect soldiers to combat Magic. At least, that's what Necessarius's sources say. You can see why this sparked a cause for investigation," Stiyl informed.

"So Suzaku Tanaka was a product of Project Divinity?" Touma asked. Stiyl nodded.

"Suzaku Tanaka is one name we've recovered from the destroyed data. Another is Hideaki Tsukuda. We have a third name, but only the last name, Suki. As far as we know, there weren't any other survivors, not that it matters much," Stiyl continued.

"What? How can you say that?" Touma asked, shocked.

"Touma, they're dangerous criminals that killed all these people. The less their are, the better the world is off," Stiyl replied.

"They're still people and I'll still destroy that fucked up illusion of theirs." Stiyl shook his head.

"These were people too, Touma, and now they're dead because of them," Stiyl replied.

"Right, so obviously the only way to fix murder is to murder more people, right?" Touma shot back. Stiyl looked away.

"Go back and make sure your friends are actually doing something productive," Stiyl growled. Touma left, not saying anything. Stiyl drew another breath in and blew smoke.

"Fuckin' kid..."

* * *

Touma walked into the room just as Mikoto shot another bolt of lightning at Ren.

"Take it back!" she shouted as Ren dodged unsuccessfully.

"Okay! I'm sorry already!" Ren shouted.

"What the hell is going on?" Touma asked.

"You shoudln't say stuff like that, it's embarassing!" Mikoto stuttered.

"How the hell was I supposed to know you'd take offense?" Ren asked. Touma sighed.

"Wow, you guys are ignoring me again. This gonna become a common thing?" Touma asked.

"Use your brain! Think about what you're saying before you say it!" she shouted.

"How can I use my brain if you'er always shooting lightning bolts at it?" he shouted back.

"It is, isn't it?" Touma sighed.

"I'm sure you can come up with something!" Mikoto argued.

"Fine! Just STOP already!" Ren begged.

"You know what? I'm gonna go back down there where there are dead bodies," Touma said.

"Wait, what?" Ren asked, looking at Touma.

'"Oh, NOW you care."

"No, he's just curious. It's sort of his thing," Mikoto said.

"How many? Do we know how they died? Did CLASS kill them?" Ren started to ask. Stiyl walked up behind Touma.

"Again, you're asking far too many questions to be answered," Stiyl criticized.

"It's simple, I ask all three questions, you answer all three questions, it saves time!" Ren replied.

"It doesn't."

"Okay fine, just answer them."

"What were the questions?" Stiyl asked. Ren took a deep breath.

"I hate you," he said through gritted teeth.

"Just tell me what the questions were, you Tsundere," Stiyl smirked.

"Oh, that is IT!" Ren shouted, about to slice the air. Stiyl got a card ready. Touma stepped in the way.

"Now is not the time, guys," Touma cautioned.

"Did he just say now is the time?" Stiyl asked.

"That's what I heard," Ren replied.

"Stiyl, stop being such a fucking instigator and help us take down Suzaku!" Touma shouted at him. Stiyl was taken back for a moment. Ren looked uneasily between Touma and Stiyl, eventually relaxing and putting his hand by his side again. Stiyl sighed. He put his card back into his cloak.

"Getting involved with these people is suicide. Especially for you guys," Stiyl said.

"So it's not suicide for you?" Touma inquired.

"It is. But my suicide is better than yours," Stiyl said.

"What a bunch of bullshit. You can't stand there and say your life isn't worth anything," Touma replied.

"It's worth something. But only as a soldier. A soldier's purpose is to die. All of you are just bystanders. Students who happened to stumble upon something bigger than yourselves," Stiyl explained.

"Wow, you're a little prick, aren't you?" Ren criticized. Stiyl looked at him.

You're just pretentious as fuck and want to seem cool so you're giving us the 'I'll go in alone' speech like a fucking idiot. Has it ever occured to you that if these guys were actually made to fight against magic, then a magic user might not be the best choice?" Touma criticized. Stiyl drew in a breath of smoke. He thought for a moment, then blew the smoke away from them.

"Fine. But I hope you understand what you're getting yourself into," Stiyl warned.

"Never do, never will," Touma replied.

* * *

Suzaku and Hideaki stepped out of the station. Hideaki blinked in the harsh sunlight.

"Forget about Nakajima, I have a plan to get rid of him. From now on, your focus is Misaka and Kamijou," Suzaku ordered.

"Well, it won't be difficult to focus on her," Hideaki smirked. Suzaku looked at him.

"She's the 14 year old that stomped your face into the dirt. How can you find that attractive?" Suzaku asked, amazed. Hideaki shrugged.

"She has nice legs and I got the whole Dominatrix vibe from her, y'know?" Hidaeki answered. Suzaku looked at him, still clearly worried.

"You're kinda fucked up," Suzaku decided.

"What? As long as it's human older than 13, it's completely legal," Hideaki stated as a-matter-of-factly. Suzaku sped up his pace.

"Just meet up with your new guys at District 7 and coordinate with Yumiko to get rid of them. I don't caer if you kill them or not, just make sure they're out of town when Endgame occurs," Suzaku finished, quickly widening the gap between himself and Hideaki.

"Should I know what you plan to do with Nakajima, boss?" Hideaki asked. Suzaku stopped.

"Not an hour ago I threatened to detonate a bomb inside your stomach. Guess." He continued walking.

"Er... whatever you say, boss." Once Suzaku was out of ear shot from Hideaki, he opened up his phone and called Frances.

"Get another bomb set up. Target the Garden of Learning."


End file.
